May 6, 2008

Hitting the road in Schulich 1

Drivers gear up to get behind the wheel of U of C’s solar car at highway speed

Arm curls, hot yoga, endurance training and nutritional counseling. It may sound like boot camp for running a marathon but it’s actually part of the training routine for three University of Calgary students who will drive the Schulich 1 solar car from Dallas, Texas to Calgary this summer in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC).

“Driving a solar car isn’t nearly as easy or comfortable as a normal vehicle, so there’s a lot we have to do to get ready to spend long periods of time driving at high speed,” said Jeff Wickenheiser, a first-year student in the Schulich School of Engineering and one of the U of C Solar Car Team’s three drivers. “We are doing everything we can to get our bodies acclimatized and accustomed to what we are going to experience in the race.”

After months of training and driving Schulich 1 in university parking lots, the drivers had their first chance to put the car through its paces at Race City Motorsports Park on Tuesday. It was Wickenheiser’s first chance to see how the vehicle performs at cruising speed and a glimpse of what driving it on the highway will be like.

“At higher speeds you definitely have to pay more attention and be more aware of your surroundings,’ he said. “It is really good to see how the car handles at 100 km/h compared to 10 km/h.”

The team tapped the experience of previous U of C solar car drivers to come up with a training regime for the 4,000 kilometre race across North America that starts in Dallas on July 13 and ends at the University of Calgary finish line on July 22.

The drivers are focusing on increasing their upper body strength and stamina for driving Schulich 1 five hours at a time. The car does not have power steering and each driver will be expected to drive five hour shifts during NASC’s 10-hour days of racing. They are also taking special yoga classes in hot rooms to ready themselves for the intense heat of driving across the southern U.S. under a plexiglass canopy with no air conditioning, as well as driver training classes at Race City.

“The conditions while driving can be quite intense, so you the drivers have to be in good shape and stay well hydrated,” said Darshni Pillay, the team’s operations manager.

The testing day at Race City will be followed by regular practice runs on secondary highways outside of Calgary leading up to the team’s departure for Dallas on July 1. In the meantime, the team’s engineering crews are busy fine-tuning the Schulich 1’s solar-powered electrical system, chassis and aerodynamic shell to maximize the car’s performance when it is pitted against 25 other vehicles this summer, including teams from four other Canadian universities and colleges.

The U of C Solar Car Team is also visiting schools in the Calgary area to raise awareness about solar power and alternative energy technology and is scheduled to appear at Calgary’s Lilac Festival on May 25 and the Mayor’s Environment Expo June 3-5 and the U of C’s Campus Fair on June 14.

The U of C Solar Car Team was the top Canadian team in the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge, a 3,000-kilometre race across the Australian Outback last October, placing 12th out of 46 teams. Schulich 1 is named after philanthropist Seymour Schulich, the leading benefactor of the U of C’s Schulich School of Engineering.

For more information, visit:
U of C Solar Car Team website: www.calgarysolarteam.ca
North American Solar Challenge website: www.americansolarchallenge.org